Latest from Next TV in Minnesota

Minnesota Governor Issues Public Apology for CNN Arrests

john.eggerton@futurenet.com (John Eggerton) — Fri, 29 May 2020 16:53:16 +0000

Tim Walz

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) publicly apologized to CNN for the arrest of its news crew while covering an arrest stemming from the destructive protesting and looting Thursday night in Minneapolis.

Related: CNN Crew Arrested

He had already apologized personally to CNN president Jeff Zucker.

That came during a news conference during which he told the journalists he was "deeply apologetic."

He said he didn't care why they had been arrested, it was unacceptable.

Walz said the police could not take a heavy hand with the media and that, even when clearing an area, they must make sure they create a safe spot for journalists to tell the story.

He made it clear that the reason for that space went beyond protecting journalists, though he said that was a priority. He said protecting those journalists ability to cover the story was "not because it was a nice thing, but because it is a key to how we fix it."

That is because when people see reporters being arrested, they assume something is about to happen that the police don't want to be seen.

Walz also said President Trump's tweet--that he had advised Walz that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts"--was "not helpful."

Chris Snowbeck, president of the Minnesota chapter of the
Society of Professional Journalists, suggested providing such space was critical. “Police, State Patrol and other law enforcement officers should be well aware of the importance of the media whose job it is to document and report on breaking news for the benefit of the general public," Snowbeck said of the arrests. "We implore the responding parties to alert their officers on the rights of the press and the necessity of their presence as they continue to report on the current unrest.”

CBS News tweeted its support for CNN Friday:

[embed]https://twitter.com/CBSNewsPress/status/1266387160132960258[/embed]

“It’s difficult to imagine what police needed as ‘confirmation that these individuals were members of the media’ beyond Omar Jimenez showing his press badge while he spoke into a CNN camera surrounded by his producer and crew,” said Committee to Protect Journalists Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Journalists have a responsibility to report on matters of public interest, such as protests, and should be able to freely cover these events without fear of retaliation from authorities. These arrests ring of intimidation and are simply outrageous.”

Schurz Completes Hiawatha Broadband Buy

Mike Farrell — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 15:33:00 +0000

Schurz Communications said it has completed its purchase of Hiawatha Broadband Communications, a video and high-speed internet service provider in Winona, Minn. Terms were not disclosed.

Schurz first announced the deal in October.

HBC will keep its name and local management and will continue to be based in Winona, Schurz said in a statement. The company operates an advanced fiber network offering speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second, telephone service and video packages with more than 300 channels. Its data transport network in southern Minnesota connects more than 20 cities and it also has wholesale, construction, business consulting and engineering businesses and is the operator of the RS Fiber Cooperative gigabit fiber-to-the- farm project in Minnesota.

“Hiawatha is thrilled to join the Schurz family. We share the same vision, values and commitment to the community which was essential to us as we considered potential partners. The Schurz investment allows us to continue to deploy the latest technology for our customers and grow the HBC business,” Hiawatha Broadband CEO Dan Pecarina said in a statement.

Schurz Communications is based in Mishawaka, Ind., and has cable, broadband, newspaper publishing, cloud managed services, and digital media operations in Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and South Dakota.

BTN Scores Top Rating Day

MCN Staff — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 21:45:00 +0000

Big Ten Network Attracts Highest Viewership Ever

Football, men’s basketball contributed to record day

CHICAGO –

Last Saturday, Big Ten Network tackled its most-watched day ever. That record could fall this Saturday.

BTN on Saturday had the highest viewership in its history, according to network officials, with three football and two men’s basketball games contributing to the record day.

The Nov. 22 slate featured a pair of football contests noon (ET) games -- Indiana at Ohio State and Rutgers at Michigan State -- that averaged a 3.0 HH rating in the network’s 12 metered markets. Locally, the games in Columbus earned a 27.0 HH rating, in Dayton, 13.9, Cleveland, 12.1 and in Detroit, 6.5.

BTN’s afternoon game, Maryland at Michigan, scored a 2.0 HH rating, with Detroit leading all the network’s metered markets with a 10.3 HH rating, followed by Columbus at 9.5.

The network completed the night with two non-conference men’s basketball games, Lamar at Indiana and Boise State at Wisconsin.

BTN will finish its 2014 regular-season football game schedule on Nov. 29 with No. 22 Minnesota traveling to Madison to face No. 14 Wisconsin for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. The winner will meet Ohio State, which is facing arch-rival Michigan at noon on ABC earlier in the day, in the Big Ten championship game.

BTN's lead studio team of Dave Revsine and analysts Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffit will be on site for the pregame, halftime and post-game coverage.